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TheIntegrationofYueDialectWordsintoModernWrittenChinese
WongHiuLamSallyM.A.Dissertation
TheUniversityofHongKongJune,2006
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Abstractofthesisentitled
TheIntegrationofYueDialectWordsintoModernWrittenChinese
Submittedby
WongHiuLamSallyforthedegreeofMasterofArts
atTheUniversityofHongKong
inJune2006
There is a language dilemma in Hong Kong: on the one hand, its unique
socialculturalenvironmentcallsforakindofwrittenChinesethathasalocalflavour,
while on the other hand, there are strong expectations for the use of more
standardizedvarieties.TheuseofYuedialectwords is thusan importantand
controversial topic. These nonstandard words include traditional Yue dialect
words,locallygeneratedwords,loanwords,localabbreviationsandsomestandard
wordswithextendedmeaning.
Tomaintain language standards, somescholarshaveproposeddialectwords
integrationprinciples,makinguseofFergusons theoryof Diglossia(1959).They
believe that formaluse of language shouldbebased on the standard language as
definedby the Central government, which accommodates only a relatively small
numberofdialectwords.
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Thisresearchaimstounderstandtheuseof localdialectwords inHongKong
written Chinese. Dialect words are collected from a local newspaper to form a
databasewhichcanbestudiedonfouraxes:(1)theoccupationaldomainswherethe
wordsareused;(2)thedifferentfunctionsofthewords inthetext;(3)thedifferent
rolesthewordsplayinasentence;and(4)theoriginsofthewords.Interviewswere
conductedwithexperiencedjournaliststoprovidefurtherdata.
Itwas found that there isnocorrelationbetweendialectwordsusageand the
degreeof formalityofdifferent sectionsof thenewspaper.However,dialectwords
arenotused inanarbitrarymanner.Therationale for theusage isexplored in two
ways: language attitudes of thejournalists and thepracticalmotives of achieving
differentcommunicativegoals.
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1
DECLARATIONS
I declare that this thesis represents my own work, except where due
acknowledgementismade,andthatithasnotbeenpreviouslyincludedinathesis,
dissertationorreportsubmitted to thisUniversityor toanyother institution fora
degree,diplomaorotherqualifications.
__________________________________________15thJune2006
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3
CONTENT
DeclarationsAcknowledgementsContentListofTablesandCharts
CHAPTER
I
INTRODUCTION
TO
THE
RESEARCH
ISSUE
1.1TheResearchBackground (Page9)
1.2TheResearchIssue(Page12)
CHAPTERIILITERATUREREVIEW
2.1TheLanguageQuestionintheWrittenLanguageinHongKong(Page13)
2.2TheCharacteristics andEvaluationsof theLanguageUsed in theHongKong
MassMedia(Page15)
2.2.1TheOverview:ThePrevalenceofDialectWords(Page15)
2.2.2The
Language
Styles
of
Different
Types
of
Mass
Media
(Page
18)
2.2.3 TheWordsAppearing in theMassMedia are Influential to Language
Learners(Page20)
2.3TheReason for thePrevalenceofLocalDialectWords intheWrittenLanguage
(Page21)
2.4TheAcademicResearchandProposalsinStandardizingtheWrittenLanguagein
HongKong(Page23)
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4
2.4.1TheUrgeforStandardizationResearchforWrittenLanguage(Page23)
2.4.2ThePrinciplesProposedbyHongKongLinguists(Page25)
2.4.3TheIntegratingProgressofYueDialectWordsintheStandardLanguage
andtheWorkingFocusintheFuture(Page28)
2.5 Arguments Against the Integration of Yue DialectWords into the Standard
Language(Page30)
CHAPTERIIITHERESEARCH
3.1TheScopeoftheResearch(Page32)
3.2TheBasisandAimoftheResearch(Page33)
3.3TheHypothesis(Page35)
3.4TheMethodologyoftheResearch(Page36)
3.4.1ResearchMaterials(Page36)
3.4.2CreatingaDatabasewithFourDimensionswithLocalDialectWordsfrom
aNewspaper(Page37)
3.4.3InterviewingFiveExperiencedJournalists(Page41)
CHAPTERIVFINDINGSANDDISCUSSION
4.1OverviewoftheFindingsintheNewspaperStudy(Page42)
4.2TheResultsofSortingWordDatawiththeFourAxes(Page44)
4.3GeneralFeaturesand InternalDifferencesbetween theLocalDialectWords in
EachSampleSection(Page46)
4.3.1 General Features and Internal Differences of Local DialectWords on
ImportantNewsandLocalNews(SectionAPileI)(Page46)
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5
4.3.2 General Features and Internal Differences of Local DialectWords on
ChinaNewsandInternationalNews(SectionAPileII)(Page51)
4.3.3GeneralFeaturesand InternalDifferencesofLocalDialectWordsof the
samplesectiononFinancialnewsandPropertynews(SectionB)(Page55)
4.3.4 General Features and Internal Differences of Local DialectWords on
EntertainmentNews(SectionD)(Page59)
4.3.5GeneralFeaturesandInternalDifferencesofLocalDialectWordsonLife
SupplementaryFeatures(SectionE)(Page63)
4.3.6GeneralFeaturesand InternalDifferencesofLocalDialectWords in the
samplesectiononEducationalnews(SectionF)(Page67)
4.3.7 General Features and Internal Differences of Local DialectWords on
SportsNews(SectionS)(Page71)
4.4Jusitifications for the InternalDifferenceswithin theLocalDialectWordData
andtheReasonsfortheIntegration(Page75)
4.4.1MotivesforJournaliststoIntegrateLocalDialectWordsintotheChinese
WrittenLanguage(Page78)
4.4.1.1 The Insufficiency of the Present Principles for Dialect Word
Integration
4.4.1.2UsingDialectWordstoDemonstrateReality
4.4.1.3UsingDialectWordstoActasaRhetoricalMeansofExpression
4.4.1.4UsingDialectWordstoAppealtoLocalReaders
4.4.1.5UsingDialectWordstoCreateanIconofHongKongsIdentity
4.4.1.6 Using Dialect Words to Enhance Readers Comprehension
Efficiency
4.4.2ConsciousApplicationofLocalDialectWords(Page88)
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6
CHAPTERVTHECONCLUSION
5.1TheResultoftheResearch(Page91)
5.2TowardsPrincipleSettingforLanguageStandardizationinHongKong(Page92)
AppendixA:TheFullListofNewspaperStudyResults(Page95)AppendixB:TheListofLocalDialectWordsSortedByTheirSources(Page109)AppendixC:TheListofLocalDialectWordsSortedByTheirGrammaticalFunctions(Page117)AppendixD:TheListofLocalDialectWordsSortedBytheWordOrigins(Page126)Bibliography(Page136)ResearchMaterial:Thesamplepagesstudiedinthenewspaperstudy(Page140)
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7
LISTOFTABLESANDCHARTS
TABLES
Table1:Thecoding,themaincontentandsizeofeachsamplesection.
Table2:Theoverallresultofthenewspaperstudy.
CHARTS
Figure1:Piechartshowingtheproportionoflocaldialectwordsfoundineach
samplesection.
Figure2:Piechartshowingtheproportionoflocaldialectwordsfoundwith
differentsourcesoftextfunctions.
Figure3:Piechartshowingtheproportionoflocaldialectwordsfoundwith
differentgrammaticalfunctions.
Figure4:Piechartshowingtheproportionoflocaldialectwordsfoundindifferent
origins.
Figure5:Columnchartshowingthegeneralfeaturesandinternalcharacteristicsin
thesamplesectiononImportantnewsandLocalnews(SectionAPileI).
Figure6:Columnchartshowingthegeneralfeaturesandinternalcharacteristicsin
thesamplesectiononChinanewsandInternationalnews(SectionAPileII).
Figure7:Columnchartshowingthegeneralfeaturesandinternalcharacteristicsin
thesamplesectiononFinancialnewsandPropertynews(SectionB).
Figure8:Columnchartshowingthegeneralfeaturesandinternalcharacteristicsin
thesamplesectiononLocalandOverseasEntertainmentnews(SectionD).
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8
Figure9:Columnchartshowingthegeneralfeaturesandinternalcharacteristicsin
thesamplesectiononSupplementaryLifefeatures(SectionE).
Figure10:Columnchartshowingthegeneralfeaturesandinternalcharacteristicsin
thesamplesectiononEducationalnews(SectionF).
Figure11:Columnchartshowingthegeneralfeaturesandinternalcharacteristicsin
thesamplesectiononSportnews(SectionS).
Figure12:Horizontalaccumulativebarchartshowingthepercentageproportionof
dialectwordsusedindifferenttextsourcesofeachsamplesection.
Figure13:Horizontalaccumulativebarchartshowingthepercentageproportionof
dialectwordsusedindifferentgrammaticalfunctionsofeachsamplesection.
Figure14:Horizontalaccumulativebarchartshowingthepercentageproportionof
dialectwordsusedindifferentoriginsofeachsamplesection.
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9
CHAPTERI
INTRODUCTIONTOTHERESEARCHISSUE
1.1THERESEARCHBACKGROUND
SinceModernWrittenChinesewasadopted in the1950s,the languageof
northernChinabasedontheBeijingdialecthasbecamethecommon languageof
mainland China. Basically, all thewords licensedby the standard language are
limited to theonesexisting in thewritten languageof theMayForthwriters. It
excludesdialectwordsinthestandardizationprocess.1
Inthelastfewdecades,Chinahasgonethroughaneraoftremendouspolitical,
economical and cultural development. The language measures are generally
loosened. 2 Chinese linguists and lexicologists who work on language
standardization have switched their focus to firstly, enhancing the flexibility and
accommodatingabilityof the standard language; secondly,makingcomputational
dictionariesandmachine translators, inorder tocatchupwithaneraof intensive
generation ofnewwords. In the 2005 edition of theChinesedictionary Xiandai
Hanyu Cidian editedby Zhongguo Shehui Kexueyuan Yuyan
Yanjiu suo ()which hasbeen one of the authoritative
piecesof literature,has introducedover6,000newwords into thedictionary,over
1(2002)2(2005)
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10
onethirdofwhichoriginatedfromtheYueregion.3
Chinesecitiesandprovincesalongthesoutheastcoast,especiallyYueprovince,
havebeen flourishingwith cultural development.With increasing vitality,Hong
Kong isespecially influential invariousaspectof life.Sincethe1980s,someHong
Kongdialectwords(mostofwhicharetraditionalYuedialectwordsandloanwords)
havebeengraduallyacceptedbypeopleinmainlandChinaasapartoftheirword
use.4
In contrast, the language standard and language proficiency is criticized
extensively in Hong Kong.5 The use of Yue dialect words and its grammatical
collocations hasbecome a controversial topic.Academic research hasbeen done
with an open attitude in studying the language use in the mass media6. The
standpoints are fairly onesided. Hong Kong educational linguists have closely
studied the principles and guidance of dialectal word use in Chinese language
teaching7.Principlesproposedaredynamicaccordingtothedifferentwordorigins.
Theircommongroundliesinconsideringthefrequencyofappearanceofthewords
intheformalwrittenlanguages,aswellastherebeingnootherreplaceablewordsin
the standard language. Most of these academic researches apply the theory
3(2005)4(1997)Page2352595Someoftherecentcriticismscanbefoundin (2000) and(2000)6Someacademicresearchesinpositiveattitudecanbefoundin (2000)Page 246261; (1997)Page204212;(1997)Page213228,etc7Variousresearchesareconductedby (2000)
; (1999)Page412423and (2000)
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11
introducedby Ferguson,CharlesA (1959) Diglossia in that they expect formal
languagesoftheHighVarietiestobebasedontheofficiallanguage.
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12
1.2THERESEARCHISSUE
Chungwondersifthetheoraticalpredictionsandaspirationsmustberealized.8
While theuseofdialectbyHongKong studentshasbeen thoroughly researched,
this research tries toreveal thepresentphenomena indialectalworduse inHong
Kongmassmedia,anotherinfluentiallocalworduserandproducer.Localdialectal
wordsaredeliberatelyusedincertainhighvarietiesandlowvarietiesinevery
sectionsofa localnewspaper.Also, the studymay shed lighton the realmotives
behindthewordusesoastofigureoutthereasonsforitsconservativeresistanceto
thetotaladoptionofthestandardlanguage.
8(2000)
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13
CHAPTERII
LITERATUREREVIEW
Thissectionreviewsrecentacademicfindingsinfiveaspects.Itsummarizes(1)
the language question in the written language in Hong Kong; (2) the general
characteristics and evaluations of the language usedby themassmedia (3) the
reason for the prevalence of local dialectwords in thewritten language; (4) the
academicresearch
and
proposals
in
standardizing
the
written
language
in
Hong
Kong; and (5) arguments against the integration of Yue dialect words into the
standardlanguage.
2.1THELANGUAGEQUESTION INTHEWRITTEN
LANGUAGEIN
HONG
KONG
AcontroversialHongKong languagequestionwasseriouslydiscussed in the
1997ChineseLanguageConference thatCantonesedialectwordswere integrating
into the standardwritten language inHongKong. The twoChinese languagees
varietiesseemtobemutuallyinfluencingeachother.
The opening speech9 of thementioned conference summarized that though
ModernStandardChineseisrecognizedastheframeofreferenceinlanguageuse,it
lackswords representing local concepts andnew ideas.While the senseofHong
9(1997)Page15
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14
Kongs identitywasgrowingafter the1967 riots,peoplevalued theirownculture
insteadoffollowing the imposedstandard.Moreover,HongKongwasenjoying
itssuperior internationalstatuseconomically,sociallyandculturally.Foreign ideas
andadvancedconceptswererapidlyimportedintoHongKongwithintheregionof
Chinesesocieties.Thesesituationsdemandednewwords.Apositiveviewisstated
thatlanguageisalwaysundergoingevolutionasitdoesthroughoutitsdevelopment.
Hongsupportedthisviewintheconferencebyprovingtheintegrationofthedialect
wordsinthestandardlanguageasaninevitablefact. 10
10(1997)Page235259
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15
2.2 THE CHARACTERISTICS AND EVALUATIONS
OF THE LANGUAGEUSED IN THEHONG KONG
MASSMEDIA
2.2.1TheOverview:ThePrevalenceofDialectWords
AnoverviewstudyoflanguageuseinthemassmediawascarriedoutbyNgin
200011.HongKongsmassmedialikestousecolloquiallanguageinformalarticles,
phrases and words, localized foreign terms, numbers, abbreviations and
homonymicwords in theirpublications.These languages are found tobe highly
expressiveand fullofvarieties to suit themarket interests.Thewriterappeals to
editors to reinforce the accuracy as students are always learning from themass
media.
Cantonese words are frequently seen in major types of formal written
languages inHongKong. Thebook ContrastingHongKongChineseLanguage
(translated)12
states
it
is
an
undeniable
fact
that
Hong
Kong
Chinese has already become the formal written language in this society. This
aggressiveviewpredicts thepresentprinciples in the standard languagemaybe
overthrown later.Wordexamples from importantnews reports (hardnews)are
quoted from Singdao Daily issued from 2003 to 2004 while this newspaper
11(2000) Page24626112(2006)
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16
publisherhasupheld theuseof standard language strictly.Readers shouldknow
about thedifferencesofworduse inCantoneseand thestandard language.Hong
Kongpeople need to communicate correctly and efficientlywithpeople in other
societies.
InthechapterentitledWrittenCantoneseinModernHongKongofthebook
CantoneseasWrittenLanguage(2004)13,DonSnowdescribes thehighdegreeof
socialacceptanceofCantonesewriting(partly,oreveninthewholetext)nowadays.
It isevenacceptedbypeople inacademicfields.WrittenCantoneseappears inthe
mass media including advertisements, magazines, newspapers, paperbacks and
comicbooks.Thewriterproves its significant role inHongKong society.Written
Cantonesetextsarenotonlyappearinginlowvarietylanguagesonly,butalsoare
associatedwithtextinhighvarietiessespeciallyinlighttopics.
Thepopularity ofusing localdialectwords in themassmedia is shownby
Chan14.Samplesoflocaldialectwordsarefoundfromthesoftnewssections,even
inhardnewssectionsinlocalnewspapers,inadvertisements,popsonglyricsand
comics. Local dialect words are proved to be significant in the Hong Kong
community.They are featuredby the flexibleuse ofparts of speech,presence of
affixes,newlycreatedmonosyllabicverbs, transliteratedandadaptedoralsounds,
loanwordsfromothersocieties,etc.Chanacceptsthepresenceofdialectwords in
thelowvarieties,butshecriticizesthepresenceoftheminhighvarietiesbeforethe
dialectwordscouldbegenerallyknowntoChinesesocieties.
13 Snow,DonB.(2004)CantoneseasWrittenLanguage,WrittenCantoneseinModernHongKong,HongKong:HongKong
University
Press.
Page
125
174
14(1997)Page274281
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17
AfocusstudyofHongKongloanwordswasperformedin2001.15 Itcompared
the differences in loan words used in Hong Kong and mainland China. The
characteristicsofloanwordsusedinHongKongaresummarizedandthepositive
andnegativeimpactsofsuchwordusewererevealed.Theloanwordssuggestthe
high status of foreign cultures inHongKong. Besides, the postcolonial culture,
prestigiouseconomyandeducationsystemcreated in thecolonialeraaffected the
useofwords.Loanwordsareintegratedinwrittenarticles.
Loanwords inHongKong are firstly introducedby themassmedia16. The
majorityoftheloanwordsaretransliteratedorborroweddirectlyfromalphabetical
wordsinsteadoftranslatedbyparaphrasing.Itservestheaimofkeepingpacewith
the fast information circulation. 17 The words will undergo a process of
specializationsuchthatthemeaningoftheoriginalwordislocalized.Itmeanssome
wordskeeppartoftheoriginalmeaningwhilesomewordmeaningsareextended
locally. Based on the loanwords, some newwords havebeen generatedby the
mediatoo.
15(2001)2000:3,Page31216(2001)2000:3,Page31217(2004)
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18
2.2.2TheLanguageStylesofDifferentTypesofMassMedia
Focusedresearchon theuseofdialectwords ineach typeof themassmedia
hasbeencarriedout.
Languageproficiencyofnewspapers inHongKong,mainlandChina,Taiwan
and Singaporewas graded in 1997.18 The grading criterionwas the frequency of
dialectalwordsand communitywordsused.HongKongnewspaperspossess the
highest frequency of local dialect words. The cause of the phenomenon was
discussed.Thewriterurgedforalanguagereforminlanguagebeingusedinformal
occasions.
The style ofHong Kong advertisements languagewas studied.19Word use
was especially analyzed. Locally generated words were characterized by their
ability to reflect and reconstruct the value system of the generalpublic. Some of
these words were generated based on Cantonese words. The fabrication is not
restrictedbyanypartofspeechandmanysemanticagreementsofcommendatory
andderogatoryuseofaword.Insomesentences,grammar issedulouslyviolated
forthesakeofcommercialpromotions.
HongKongcomic languagehasbeenstudied20.Theirdialectalwordusewas
discussed. Comic language preserves a style of traditional Chinese novels by
18(1997)Page20421219(1997)
Page21322820(1997)Page239252
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19
keepinga lotof idiomaticphrases, foursyllablewordsand theclassical language
whichgivesasenseofwrittenlanguage.Besides,Cantonesewords,slapstick,triad
society language and foul language are also widely used inHong Kong comic
books.
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20
2.2.3TheWordsAppearingintheMassMediaareInfluentialto
LanguageLearners
Inaresearchof localdialectwordsused instudentcompositions21, theresult
wasnotconvincing thatHongKong studentscompositionsaremuchaffectedby
Cantonesedialectwords,especiallyinprimarystudentswork.Inthesameaspect,it
was discovered that students performance deteriorated as they progressed to
secondaryschool.Bycomparingtheworkdonebysecondarystudentsandprimary
students,itrevealsthattheirreadinghabitsandtheknowledgeareamayaffecttheir
performance.Wordsused in themassmedia are found tobe very influential on
teenagers.Inreality,thewordsimpactalsoonlocalChineseteachersinthattheyare
sometimes incompetent in identifying dialectwordswhen thewords repeatedly
appearinformalwrittenlanguage.
Whethertheuseofdialectwordslowersthelanguageproficiencyofuniversity
studentswasrevealedbyotherresearchbyYeung22.Universitystudentscanobtain
the ability to distinguishbetween Cantonesewords and the standard language
words. However, university students deliberately do not follow the standard
language.Universitygraduatesdonotadmit that this isaphenomenon involving
the lowering of Chinese language proficiency. The article supports the fact that
Cantonesedialectwordscanenlightenideaexpressionbuttheyshouldbeawareof
theirtargetreaderstomakesurethelanguageservesthedesiredaim.
21(2000)22(1999)Page412423
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21
2.3THEREASONFORTHEPREVALENCEOFLOCAL
DIALECTWORDSINTHEWRITTENLANGUAGE
Dialectwordsthathavebeenintegratedintothestandardlanguagehavebeen
studied. 23 Theyarewords representing local ideasandnewobjects.Thereareno
replaceable options found in the standard language and are distinct by their
expressiveness.However, caseswhere some localwords are integrated into the
standardlanguagewithoutaconvincingreasonarealsofound.
Tin (2005)24 explains the deviations inHong Kongwritten language.Hong
Kong possesses a specific historical background and economic status in the
geographical region. The language naturally has features deeply influenced by
English andJapanese language, traditionalYuedialectwords, ancientwords and
community words. A lot of transliterated words are used to represent various
importedconceptsandadvanced inventions.Thenew loanwordsare likely tobe
useddirectlyintheformofLatinletters.Theyarelocalizedandmodifiedfromtime
totimeandintegratedintothestandardlanguageinthefinalstage.
Inthesamearticle,TinfurtherexplainsHongKongcommunitywords,aswell
as the way of generating words and phrases, show regional distinctiveness.
Homophonouscharactersareborrowedfromthestandardlanguagetransliterating
Cantonese sounds. Some characters, even using parts of the Latin alphabet, are
23(1997)Page23525924(2005)2005:12
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22
generated to represent other Yue dialect sounds. Some words in the classical
languageare leftbehind in thedialect.These featuresareclosely related toHong
Kongscultural lifeand the languageenvironment inHongKong (proved inTins
1989work25 and2002work26).Politicalmeasures,economicdevelopment,education
reform,technologyandsociallifegenerateandenrichlocaldialectwords.Therefore,
Tinadoptsanopenattitudetowardsdialectwords(especiallythelocallygenerated
ones)butstandardglossary listsareneeded for thesakeofmutualunderstanding
betweenChinesesocieties.
25(1989)26(2004)
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23
2.4 THEACADEMICRESEARCHAND PROPOSALS
IN STANDARDIZING THE WRITTEN LANGUAGE
INHONGKONG
2.4.1 The Urge for Standardization Research for Written
Language
AfterpointingoutthepredominantstyleofwrittenChineselanguageinHong
Kong,bothMiu27 andHong28 agree although the languages variety has its own
featuresinworduse,thebasicstructureisclosetothestandardone.Theypropose
that a tailoredwriting standard shouldbemade forHongKong society.A case
studyofquantifiers29 findshowmeasuringunitsdifferinHongKong,mainland
ChinaandTaiwanwithoutapropercontrol.Astandardisneededtoeliminateany
misunderstandingsespeciallyinproperactivities.Thisisthereasonforlinguiststo
urgeforthehighesteffortstogiveanaccountofandguidelinesforahealthylexical
development:keepingthelivelinessofthestandardlanguagewithoutdamagingthe
communicativefunctionofthelanguage.
Another article byWong30 shows the demand of intervention measures to
27(1997)Page768228(1997)Page23525929(1997)Page28228630(1997) 1997
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24
controlunhealthy integration.Asamatterof fact,HongKongpeopleare loyal to
Cantonese,yettheyhavetoadoptthesocialnormofusingthestandardlanguagein
workandstudy.Luckily,Wongs1995work31 proves thatpeopleofotherChinese
provinces favourCantonesedue toHongKongs leadingprosperity status.Hong
KongpeoplemaywanttopreservetheiruniqueidentitybyusingCantonese,their
dialect.The social factor indirectlypromotesmerging of localHongKongwords
intothestandardlanguage.
TheconceptofHongKongChinese isproposed.32 Thewritten language in
HongKonghasthedistinctivestyleofprofoundabsorptionof localdialectwords,
phrasesandEnglish(andotherforeignlanguages)inthehighvarieties.Thelack
of languagepolicyandstandardizationwork inHongKong iscriticized.Teachers
andstudentsarenotprovidedwithanyreferencetochecktheaccuracyofworduse.
ThereisnoonetryingtodevelopacorrectlanguageconceptfortheHongKong
standard language.Lee33 alsohasasimilarpointofview.Hehasdonea research
basingonChinesehistoricalandlexicographicalworkstoprovehispoint.
Page9910431(1992)32(1997)
Page16917433(1997)Page147155
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25
2.4.2ThePrinciplesProposedbyHongKongLinguists
Actually,someworkhasbeendonebyChineselinguistsinHongKong.Tsang
publishedabookin2002providingalistforcrossreferencingbetweenlocaldialect
words(mainlytraditionalYuedialectwords)andoralPutonghuawords.Itrecords
14,000Cantoneseterms.34 Thewordsarefurtherclassifiedaccordingtothedegree
ofoccurrenceinthestandardlanguage.TypeIisagroupofancientwordswhichis
notused
in
both
written
and
oral
language.
Type
II
is
agroup
of
words
that
is
seldom used in Putonghua but frequently appears in Cantonese. Most are
monosyllabic. Type III refers to dialect words that also appear in the standard
language.Thisview issimilar to the integrationprinciplesproposedbyLee35.Lee
stresses his requirement of checking the activeness of ancientwords and dialect
words.Nevertheless,thisshowslinguistshavebeenconsciousofthetopicofdialect
wordsintegration.
Inhisarticlepublishedin199336,Leeproposedthreeprinciplesforintegration
of dialect words into the written language: the frequency of the dialect word
appearing in the standard language; the general demand for theword in that it
givesaspecific
meaning;
and
the
meaning
explicitness
of
the
word.
In
short,
a
populardialectwordwhichhasaspecificmeaning(orexplicitassociativemeaning)
isqualifiedtobeintegratedwiththestandardlanguageforeffectivecommunication.
34(2002)35(1993)page3942and (1993)
page434636(1993)page4751
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26
Thisargumentiselaborateduponinhis1989work37.Themainpointis,inlicensing
the use of dialect words in the standard language, people should check if the
extendedmeaningormetaphoricmeaningisexplicit.
In200038,theseprincipleswereappliedtojustifythequalityofusingCantonese
words inwrittenlanguage(inwhichwordsareextractedrandomlyfromthemass
mediaincludingnewspapersandmagazines.)Expressivedialectwordsareproved
tobeable toenhance thecommunicative functionof thestandard language itself,
butfurtherstandardizationworkisneededtomaintainlanguageproficiency.
TheChinese linguistTinSiulamhasdone thorough researchonHongKong
popularwords since the 1980s tillnow. In 1993, she suggested anew concept of
communitywords39. In short, communityword refers to the group ofwords
that is only used in a particular society. The words reflect a districts culture
especially politics, economy and other life aspects.Deliberate use of community
wordsshowsthegrowthofcitizenidentity.Itdiffersfromtraditionaldialectwords
in that theyarenot subjected toachangeof formwhen leaving thearea.Mutual
influencesmaytakeplacebetweencommunitywordsfromdifferentsocietiesfrom
time to time. She elaborates40bydistinguishing communitywords from classical
words,traditionaldialectalwordsandloanwords.
From theclose relationshipbetweenwordsandHongKongcultural life,Tin
37(1989)
Page889538(2000)
Page121839 (1993)40 (1997)
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27
setsout the rules for languagestandardizationby includingcommunitywords in
thestandardlanguage.TindefinesCantonesewords41bothinanarrowersenseand
abroadersense.Thenarrowersenserefers to termswheretheirmeaningsreferto
particularphenomena inHongKongwhile thebroader sense refers toCantonese
words which have a higher potention incorporate into the Chinese common
language.
Lacking a strong language policy, the burden of setting and adjusting
standardizationprinciples is loweredonto theshouldersofHongKongeducators.
There are articles discussing the difficulties teachers encounter in upholding the
principlesofthestandardlanguage.
Educational linguist Chung Lingsung42 studied the attitude ofHong Kong
Chinese language teachers in treating local dialect words in compositions. The
articlepublished in1993 findsout that languageteachersarewilling toaccept the
dialectwords toacertainextent.Widelyusednounsand transliteratedwordsare
mostlyaccepted.The2000thesis43 summarizesthreebasicrequirementsforteachers,
withalistofselectionrequirementsforlicensingCantonesewordstobeusedin
writtenlanguage.Amuchclearerprincipleorguidelineisneededtocatchupwith
thetrendofwordchanginginHongKong.
LanguagestandardizationworksofModernStandardChineseisstillgoingon
under strong governmental support. 44 The statisitics of word use frequency is
41(2004) 42(1993)
1993:34
43(2000)44(1997) 1997
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28
alwaysusedasoneofthestandardforwordlicensing.Themethodisintroduced
byChan45.Hegrantedlicensesforsomenewlygeneratedidiomswhicharebuilt
from loan words in Hong Kong, Taiwan and other Chinese societies. This also
suggestsatypeofintegrationprinciple.
2.4.3 The Integrating Progress of Yue Dialect Words in the
StandardLanguageandtheWorkingFocusintheFuture
TheintegratingprogressofYuedialectwordsinthestandardlanguagestarted
from the 1980s, and has persistently increased in the 90s till now.The article A
QuantitativeAnalysisoftheLexicalDistributionindifferentChineseCommunities
in the 1990s46 describes theworduse landscapebasedon the extensiveChinese
Corpus()builtbytheHongKongPolytechnicUniversity,containing
over5millionChinesecharacters.Similaritiesandthevarietiesincommunityword
useof importantcitiesofmainlandChina,TaiwanandHongKongarecompared.
Theresearchisquantitative.Bytheconcordanceofthecorpusanditscorresponding
analysis,theconclusionsareobjectivelypresented.Basicwordsarefoundtobethe
sameinthesesocieties,butwordswhichareonlyusedinoneorafewsocietiesare
alsolistedanddiscussed.
Alatterstudy(1997)47 provesmutualabsorptionsandadaptations incandesce
Page81445(2001)46(1999)1999:3,Page101847(1997)Page5158
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as timepasses.BothcommunitywordsandtraditionalYuedialectwordsare
gradually integrating into the standard language. However, the reason for the
integrationhaschanged.Theimportanceofeconomicstatus,entertainmentbusiness
and cultural phenomena spread by the mass media outweigh political and
educationalenforcement.Localdialectwords fromHongKongalwayscarrynew
conceptsandlivelyideas;readersinmainlandChinacouldeasilyacceptavarietyof
newwords andYuedialectwords thatdescribe theparticular condition inHong
Kong. On the other hand, this creates problems for any Chinese who are
unconnected toHongKong tocomprehendwordswithmodifiedmeaningby the
HongKongmassmedia.48
Benefiting from information technologydevelopment, several important and
professionalcorpuseshavebeendevelopedbytheleadinguniversitiesinChinalike
BeijingUniversityandQinghuaUniversity.Withdifferentfociincludingsemantics,
translation, grammar and statistics onword use frequencies,much research has
been done. To eliminate and include dialectal words in themature corpuses is
alwaysoneofthekeyfociinthediscussionprocess.Theplatformprovidesatoolfor
quickanalysisandintegrationofusefulwordsinthefuture.
48(2006)
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30
2.5ARGUMENTSAGAINSTTHEINTEGRATIONOF
YUE DIALECT WORDS INTO THE STANDARD
LANGUAGE
Hong49 givesexamplesfromdifferentoccupationalfieldsofdialectwordsthat
havebeenincludedintomodernChinesecorpusesalready.Fromthelexicographers
pointof
view,
intense
arguments
from
the
supporters
and
the
opponents
are
listed.
The topic isverycontroversial that thediscussionsareespeciallykeen.Theuseof
loanwordsand letterwordsshouldbebasedonwordusefrequencies,popularity
and expressiveness. The discussion revealed that there is a large amount of
transliteratedwords inthewritten language.Mostresearchersblame theoverflow
of loan words and letter words since there are not enough explanations and
researchesdone.Theythinkthatsufferersarethelanguagelearners.
Chow50 contraststheworduseinmainlandChinaandHongKongandpoints
out the inappropriateness of direct adaptations of dialect words in Putonghua
teaching. The cited arguments aremainly predicates and functionalwords since
theyare
especially
contrastive.
As
amatter
of
fact,
the
words
show
cultural
differences of the two places no matter whether in terms of weather, clothes,
transportation or eating habits. For language learners, they need to grasp the
culturaldifferencestohandlethewordswell.Theroleoftheteachersistoannotate
activewords inHongKong, touphold thosestillalignedwithChinese traditions,
49(1997)
Page23525950(2000)Page246261
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31
andtoavoidwordswhichonlydescribethenationalconditionsinmainlandChina.
Leung51 arrived at the same conclusion by contrasting the word senses of the
standard language. She suggests themedium of instruction ofChinese language
shouldbechangedtoPutonghuatoalleviatetheunpleasantfactofdialectword
intervention.
51(1997)Page423431
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32
CHAPTERIII
THERESEACH
3.1THESCOPEOFTHERESEARCH
AstheleadingfinancialcityoftheZhujiangDelta,HongKonghasbeenvery
influentialfor
the
region
in
the
recent
couple
of
decades.
Her
language
is
not
an
exception.The research topicconcentratesonHongKongdialectwordsand their
integrationintothestandardwrittenlanguage,ModernStandardChinese.
Within the literature, there are two main senses in defining Yue Dialect
Words.Inanarrowersense,itreferstotheorallanguagewordsinGuangzhou.Ina
broadersense,itreferstowordsthatarewidelyusedbutregionallyconfinedwithin
Yueprovince.The researchadopts the latterdefinition, inorder to figureout the
relationshipbetweenthedialectwordsandtheeaseofintegrationintothestandard
written language. It proposes that internal differencebetween different types of
dialectwordsmaygivetheclue.
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3.2THEBASISANDAIMOFTHERESEARCH
The language dilemma in Hong Kongs written language is clear: while
ModernStandardChineseisregardedasthestandardlanguageinmainlandChina,
written language in Hong Kong is expected to follow the standard language
especially in formal publishing.However, the literature reveals that thewritten
languageinHongKongisaffectedbyotherfactors.Moreimportantly,HongKong
needsthisparticularstyleoflanguage,HongKongChinese,indifferentaspects
oflife.Scholarsareaskingforalocalizedlanguagestandard(inastrictersense)or
anintegrationprinciple(inamoreopensense)astheModernStandardChinese,
inordertomaintainthelanguageproficiencyandefficiencyforHongKongsociety.
OneofthemarkedstylesofHongKongwrittenlanguageisitsworduse.The
use ofnonstandardwords is controversial. It includes theuseof traditionalYue
dialect words, locally generated words, loan words (including letter words,
transliterated words and paraphrased translations), non standardized local
abbreviations by combining two associated words randomly, and some
abnormalways in using the standardwords. Inmost cases, they are used as
differentpartsof speechwithextendedmetamorphicoranalogicalmeaning from
the root.Thedegreeof tolerancevaries towardsdifferentoriginsofnonstandard
word use, different occupational disciplines, different functions of the text, and
differentrolesitplaysinasentence.
The aim of the research is to reveal the present phenomena of local dialect
word integration in the standardwritten language inHongKong. It is going to
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34
justifythedegreeofdialectwordstolerance,toexplorethemotiveofusingdialect
wordsandreasonsforHongKongpeopletoresistthetotaladoptionofthestandard
language.Hence,thefindingscanbehelpfulforthelocallanguagestandardization
work.
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3.3THEHYPOTHESIS
While journalists are conscious of their language use as a part of their
professionalism,limitedlocaldialectwordsuseisexpected.It isassumedthatYue
dialectwordshavebeenintegratedintothevariouswrittencontexts.Thehypothesis
isthatthefrequencyoflocaldialectsdecreaseswiththeseriousnessofthenatureof
thenews.
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3.4THEMETHODOLOGYOFTHERESEARCH
3.4.1ResearchMaterials
Takingadvantageofthethrivingadvancementof information technology,the
efficiencyofinformationspreadinghasgreatlyincreased.Thelanguageusedinthe
massmediareacheseverysocialstratumandeveryonewhoiswillingtobrowsethe
internet.Manywordusephenomenaarefirstlyintroducedbythemassmediathat
theyaredescribedasthelanguagedemonstrator ithasbeensaidthatlanguage
learners should read newspapers for language improvement.Journalists seem to
pocess every right to use words in every way and to loan words from other
languages.Theyareevenwordcreators.Languageappearinginlocalnewspapers
is very abundant, practical, sticking to life, and very lively which qualifies as
materialforundertakingresearchintowords.Journalistshelpisalsoneededforthe
explanationandjustificationofthelocalworduse.
Among themiscellaneous news providers, newspaper publishers can easily
buildanimageofseriousnessandprofessionalisminjournalism,bykeepinganeye
ontheupholdingoftheuseofthestandardlanguage.TheSingdaoDailyisatypical
example. Thismakes the newspaper suitable for the study of the dialect word
integration issue. Besides, five experiencedjournalists, including 3 editors and 2
reporters,areinterviewedtouncoverprinciplesinrefiningtheHongKongwritten
languagebybalancingtheuseofthestandardlanguageaswellasthedialectwords.
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3.4.2 Creating a Database with Four Dimensions with Local
DialectWordsfromaNewspaper
The chosenHongKong newspaper is the SingdaoDaily issued on 27th
April2006.Localdialectwordsareextractedfromthissamplenewspapertoform
ONEdatabase. In thestudy, thedatabase issorted four timesaccording to four
differentaxes: (1)occupationaldisciplineswhere thedialectwordsareused; (2)
different
functions
of
the
dialect
words
in
the
text;
(3)
different
roles
the
dialect
wordplaysinasentence;and(4)theoriginsofthedialectword.
Toensure thesamplenewspaper reflects the recent languagedevelopment,a
newspaper issued on 27th April 2006 is chosen. It is a Thursday and a normal
workingday.ThenewspaperreportsnewsfromatypicalroutinelifeofHongKong
society.
LanguageusedintheSingdaoDailynewspaperiswidelyrecognizedasabove
average 52 by linguists, scholars and literary authors in Hong Kong. The
headquartersoftheSingdaoDailyhasalsoreleasedmemostotheirjournalistsfrom
timeto
time
insisting
on
the
use
of
the
standard
language
53
.Words
that
the
newspaperusesreflectjournalistsprofessionalisminlicensingthetermstobeused
togetherwiththewrittenlanguage.
Thenewspaperincludesseveralsectionswithdifferentreportingfoci:
52Theidea
is
provided
by
(2000),(2006)etc53 ProvidedbyJournalistsAandB
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SectionA(pileI)reportsonimportantnewsandlocalnews. SectionA(pileII)reportsonChinanewsandinternationalnews. SectionBandSectionCreportsonfinancialnewsandpropertynews. SectionDreportsonentertainmentnewsfromlocalandinternationalevents. Section E is the supplement of the newspaper which shows features from
differentaspectsoflife.
Section F reports on local educational news, including pages for studentreaders.
SectionHreportsonnewsfromlocalhorseraces. SectionSreportsonlocalandinternationalsportsnews.Inadditiontothesesections,therearetwoseparatesupplementarysections,which
containthefeaturedtopics,withallcontentsprovidedbyspecificbusinessfirms
oneisaneducationalfirmandtheotherisafinancialfirm.Inthestudy,dialectword
samplesaretakenfromeverysectionofthenewspaper,excludingthreesections.In
order to maintain the validity of the samples, the mentioned two separate
supplementary sections and Section H are eliminated for the language used is
generallynotcensoredbythejournalistsoftheSingdaoDaily.54
Inviewofthedifferenceinnumberofpagesineachsection,thesamplesizeof
eachsectionisfurtheradjustedbymaximizingthenumberofpagesineachsection
uptotenpages.Table1belowshowsthedetailsofthestudysamplesize.
NameoftheNewspaper:SingdaoDaily
Datedon27thApril2006
54 ProvidedbyJournalistsAandB
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Sections MainContentoftheNewsSection TotalNumber of
SamplePages
SectionA(pileI) ImportantnewsandLocalnews 10pages
SectionA(pileII) ChinanewsandInternationalnews 6pages
SectionBand
SectionC
FinancialnewsandPropertynews 10pages
SectionD Entertainmentnews 10pages
SectionE SupplementaryLifefeatures 10pages
SectionF Educationalnews 8pages
SectionS Sportsnews 6pages
Table1:Thecoding,themaincontentandsizeofeachsamplesection.
In each of the sample pages, ALL words, including the page headers and
footers,thenameofthenewscolumn,aswellasallthetitles,theleads,thetext,the
captionsforfiguresforthemaincontent,aswellasallwordsintheadvertisement
are closely studied and examined. All words, besides the names of person,
organizationsorbrands,arelookedupintheXiandaiHanyuCidian
(July2005edition)55 publishedby theCommercialPress (Beijing)which is the
latestrepresentationofworduseinModernStandardChinese.Theselectedwords
aredoublecheckedinthe2003CDROMoflistsofCantonesewordsdevelopedby
Tsang Zifan ()56, a linguist who hasbeen studying Cantonesewords for
manyyears.Allwordsthatarenotpresentinthementioneddictionaryarelistedin
thestudyresult.Inthisstudy,theyarenamedandreferredtoasthedialectwords.
EachpresentYuedialectwordislistedandcountedoncepernewssection.
At thisstage,allthesampledata iscollected.Thedatabase isthendeveloped
witha taggingjobaccording to the fouraxesmentioned in the firstparagraph in
55200556 TsangTzefan(2002)
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3.4.2.
Inthefirstaxis,theoccupationaldomainswherethedialectwordsareusedare
considered.Allthedialectwordsaresortedaccordingtothesamplesections,which
isdominatedbycertainoccupationaldomainsasmentionedpreviously.Appendix
Ashowsthesortedresults.
In the second axis, different functions of the dialect words in the text are
considered.CollectedwordsaremarkedaccordingtothesourceoftheYuedialect
word. The categories are: The title, the lead and the column names aswords
servingthepurposeofaccouchementandattraction;maintextandthecaptionas
wordsservingasdescriptivepurposeinthatlanguagesareinthethirdpersonand
writtenobjectively;quotedstatementsarewordsthatserveadescriptivepurpose
written in the first person and written subjectively and the category of
advertisement.AppendixBshowsthesortedresults.
In the third axis, different roles the dialect word plays in a sentence are
considered.Thecollectedwordsare categorizedby thematic roles in the sentence
according to their grammatical functions. The categories are subjects/agents,
predicates,adjectivaloradverbialphrasesaswellasfunctionalwords.AppendixC
showsthesortedresults.
Inthefourthaxis,theoriginsofthedialectwordsareconsidered.Thecollected
words are taggedwith theiroriginswith categoriesof locallygeneratedwords
referring to regional confined ideas, nonstandardized abbreviations, loan
words (including letterwords, transliteratedwords and paraphrased translated
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41
wordswhich are locally generated), traditional Yue dialectwords (the narrow
sense of Yue dialect words) and standard words which possess a new local
meaning.
3.4.3InterviewingFiveExperiencedJournalists
Fiveexperiencedjournalists, including reportersandeditors fromHongKong
newspaper companies are interviewed. The newspaper companies chosen are
understood tobeconscientiousandcarefulpublishers57. Individual interviewsare
conducted with questions on principles in dialect words used under their
supervision. Interviewees are also asked tojustify the study result. Theirbasic
informationisasfollows:
1. JournalistA,Editor(DepartmentofSupplementaryLifefeatures),SingdaoDaily,aged47
2. JournalistB,Reporter(DepartmentofLocalnews),SingdaoDaily,aged343. JournalistC,Editor(DepartmentofEducationnews),MingPao,aged514. JournalistD,Editor(DepartmentofEntertainmentnews),WenWeiPo,aged555. JournalistE,Reporter(DepartmentofLocalnews),DaGongbao,aged35
57heideaisprovidedby (2000),(2006)etc
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CHAPTERIV
FINDINGSAND
DISCUSSION
4.1 OVERVIEW OF THE FINDINGS IN THE
NEWSPAPERSTUDY
All the localdialectwords collected are shown in the appendices.There are
1,334targetlocaldialectwordsfoundinthesamplesections.Onaverage,thereare
26.7wordsperpage.Theproportionofthedialectwordsfoundfromeachsample
section is then calculated for a clear comparisonwith the average proportion of
14.3%persection.ThefulllistcanbefoundinAppendixA.Thesummarizedfigures
areshowninthefollowingtableandthefigure.
SampleSection No.oflocal
dialectwords
Averageno.oflocal
dialectwords
Proportion
(%)
ImportantnewsandLocalnews
(SectionAPileI)
150words 15wordsperpage 10%
ChinanewsandInternational
news(SectionAPileII)
59words 9.9wordsperpage 7%
FinancialnewsandProperty
news(SectionB)
293words 29.3wordsperpage 20%
Entertainmentnews(SectionD) 414words 41.4wordsperpage 29%SupplementaryLifeFeatures
(SectionE)
226words 22.6wordsperpage 16%
Educationalnews(SectionF) 135words 16.8wordsperpage 12%
Sportsnews(SectionS) 57words 9.5wordsperpage 7%
Total/Average 1,334words 26.7words/pageThe mean
is14.3%
Table2:Theoverallresultofthenewspaperstudy.
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43
Figure1:Piechartshowing theproportionof localdialectwords found ineach
samplesection.
WiththehelpofwordcounttechnologyandthewebsiteoftheSingdaoDaily58,
it is roughly found that the average number of words per page within the
newspaperwasabout5,000words(awordisdefinedasanitemofvocabulary,nota
character). This sharp ratio proves that the intervention of local dialect words
remainslowthroughoutthenewspaper.
Theresultfromeachsamplesectionvariesdramatically.Thedecreasingorder
ofproportionof thedialectwords towards the sample sectionsareEntertainment
news (Section D) 29%, Financial news and Property news (Section B) 20%,
Supplementary Life features (Section E) 16%, Educational news (Section F) 12%,
ImportantnewsandLocalnews(SectionApileI)10%,andfollowedbyChinanews
andInternationalnews(SectionApileII)7%andSportsnews(SectionS)7%.The
line of themean average cut across at 14.3%,which indicates the former three
sectionshadahigherfrequencyofdialectwords.
58 SingdaoDaily(HongKong), http://singtao.com/,viewedrepeatedlyfrom15thApril,2006to30thMay,2006
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Figure3:Piechartshowingtheproportionoflocaldialectwordsfoundwith
differentgrammaticalfunctions.
Figure4:Piechartshowingtheproportionoflocaldialectwordsfoundin
differentorigins.
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46
4.3 GENERAL FEATURES AND INTERNAL
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE LOCAL DIALECT
WORDSINEACHSAMPLESECTION
4.3.1GeneralFeaturesandInternalDifferencesofLocalDialect
WordsonImportantNewsandLocalNews(SectionAPileI)
4.3.1.1BriefDescriptionsoftheSamplesection
Inthesamplesectionabout importantnewsandlocalnews(SectionAPileI),
30columnsofarticlesand10advertisementswerestudied.150dialectwordswere
found.
Togetherwithtwofullpagesofadvertisements,theleadingarticlesreportedon
themajorheadlineof thedayof27thApril2006, the report releasedby theAudit
Commission of the Hong Kong government. The report revealed how several
governmentbodies
were
managing
public
funding
improperly.
Three
full
pages
werededicated to thereportingof,respondingtoanddiscussionofthe topic.The
discussionswere especiallykeenon the criticismofRadioTelevisionHongKong
(RTHK). The other pages reported other important local news on commercial
activitiesinHongKong.
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47
4.3.1.2TheDistinguishableStatisticalFeaturesoftheLocalDialect
WordsinThisSampleSection
Aconsiderableamountofdialectwordswerefoundin thissamplesection.
Theyspreadout invarious typeof text in thesamplesection.Mostof themare
locallygeneratedreferringtoregionalconfinedideas.Theyareusedwithvarious
grammarfunctions.Typicalexamplesare .
Innews reporting, i.e. themost important and controversial issue in society
(whichisakindofhardnews59),thestyleandlanguageusedareexpectedtobe
formal as it reports themost influential news, events and speeches in a serious
manner60.However,againstexpectations, thestudyresultshows theproportionof
localdialectwordswithin thissamplesection isneither toohighnor too low.The
percentage figureof 10% isjustbelow the average line (which is 14%).Pageson
Chinanews,internationalnewsandsportnewspossessamuchlowerproportionof
dialectwordstothissamplesection(consisting7%).(ref.AppendixA)
59(2000)60(1997) 1997 Page814
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48
Figure1:Piechartshowingtheproportionoflocaldialectwordsfoundineach
samplesection
Compared toother sample sections, the localdialectwords arequite evenly
distributed.Thestandarddeviationvalue is roundedup to22.Thismeansdialect
wordsappearinarandommannerinthetitle,articleleads,columnnamesandthe
main text, the captions, quoted statements and even in advertisements. (ref.
AppendixB)
Analyzingtheresultingrammaticalfunctions,thelargestproportion(38%)of
the dialectwords is found tobe subjects or agents in the language expressions.
However, thesignificantamountofpredicates,andadjectivaloradverbialphrases
shouldalsobenoticedastheyoccupyapercentageof28%and29%respectively.(ref.
AppendixC)
With respect to theoriginsofword, thedialectwords in this sample section
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49
originatefromdifferentaspectsinquiteanevenmanner.Amongthem,wordsthat
arenewlycreatedbysocietyareusuallyreferredtoaslocalconcepts61 andaseries
of traditionalYuedialectwordsdominates.Yet, though only occupying 14%, the
category of standardwordswith locally developedmetaphorical and analogical
meaningpossesses a considerablybig proportionwith reference to other sample
sections.(ref.AppendixD)
61(2000)Page246261
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50
Figure5:Columnchartshowingthegeneralfeaturesandinternalcharacteristics
inthe
sample
section
on
Important
news
and
Local
news
(Section
A
Pile
I).
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51
4.3.2GeneralFeaturesandInternalDifferencesofLocalDialect
WordsonChinaNewsandInternationalNews(SectionAPile
II)
4.3.2.1BriefDescriptionoftheSampleSection
InthesamplesectiononChinanewsandinternationalnews(SectionAPileII),
38columnsofarticlesand10advertisementswerestudied.59dialectwordswere
found.
Thesamplesectioncontainsarelativelysmallnumberofpages(includingtwo
fullpages of advertisements). It reflects there isnotmuch importantnews in the
sectionreportedonthatday.ThemaincontentoftheChinapagesreportsonaseries
ofcrimesinmainlandChina.Thefocustopicofthepagesoninternationalnewsand
Taiwannewsfallsontopicsofdiplomacy.
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4.3.2.2TheDistinguishableStatisticalFeaturesoftheLocalDialect
WordsinthisSampleSection
Asmallamountofdialectwordsarefound in thissamplesection.Mostof
thedialectwords are subjects and agents that refer tonon local concepts.The
wordsarefromvariousoriginssuchthatalotofnonstandardabbreviationsand
loanwordareused;thestyleiscongruentwiththerecentlanguagedevelopment
inmainland
China.
Typical
examples
are
As thenews sourcesof thepress releasesand figures areprovidedbynews
agencieslikeXinhuaNewsAgency,CentralNewsAgency(CNA),AssociatedPress
(AP), Agence FrancePresse (AFP) and Reuters, the reported news are selected,
translatedand further integratedby thejournalisttranslators62.Theproportionof
localdialectwordswithinthissamplesectionisoneofthesmallest,consistingof7%
of all the extractedwords.Thedialectwords collected in this sample section are
mainlyfromthepagesonChinanewswhilethewordsaremostlytheterminologies
describingthecrimesparticularlyinChina.(ref.AppendixA)
Themajority (54%)of thedialectwordsareextracted from themain textand
captions. The context hints that there cannot be any statement quoted from
Cantonesespeakers,sotherelativepercentageshouldbeignored.Sincetheaverage
ratioof1:35 is found63 in thewordcountof the title to themain textonanormal
pageofthenewspaper,theratioofdialectwordsappearinginthissectionismarked
62 CombinedideasfromJournalistB,CandD63 CombinedideasfromJournalistAandE
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Figure6:Columnchartshowingthegeneralfeaturesandinternalcharacteristics
inthesamplesectiononChinanewsandInternationalnews(SectionAPileII).
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examplesare .
As an international financial centre, theHeng Sang index is an indicator of
Hong Kongs financial performance of the day while the performance of the
propertymarketshowshereconomicperformanceforalongerperiodoftime.The
financialandpropertynewswidelyinterestbothbyHongKongcitizensandpeople
in other neighbouring financial centres, and in the terminology of journalism,
financialnewsisdemarcatedas hardnews64.Thelanguageusedinthesepagesis
supposedtobeformal,seriousandaccessibletothegeneralpublic65.However,the
newspaperdialectwordsstudyrevealsthatthisisnotthecase.
Theproportionoflocaldialectwordswithinthissamplesectionissurprisingly
big such that it occupies about onefifth (21%) of all the samplewords,which is
about 6% above the average line. The frequency of the dialectwordsjust came
second below the entertainment pages. Reading the sample words closely, the
meaningofthemtendtoreflecttheadvancedfinancialconceptsandaredescriptive
inshowingthefluctuationandundulationoftheperformanceofthestockmarket.
(ref.AppendixA)
Dialectwordscollectedaremainlyfromthesourceofthemaintext(whilethe
number of captions is negligiblewithin the sample section) so that it occupies a
threequarterproportion(75%)whichisthehighestamongallthesamplesections.
Contrastingly, thewordsused in theadvertisementswithinthesamplesectionare
mostlyinthestandardlanguagesothatonly25wordsarefound(containing9%of
64 CombinedideasfromJournalistB,CandD65 CombinedideasfromJournalistAandE
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57
thesamplesection).Theproportionofdialectwordsfoundinthetitleandthenews
lead isaboutaverage.Thedata isfoundtobeextremeandthestandarddeviation
valueisthehighest(34)ofallthesamplesections.(ref.AppendixB)
Analyzing the result in grammatical functions, the largest proportion of the
dialectwordsliesinadjectivaloradverbialphrases(consistingof41%),followedby
subjectsoragents(consistingof33%)andbypredicates(consistingof21%).Asmall
amount of dialectal functionwords are found in this sample section. Generally
speaking,thedialectwordsappearinvariousgrammaticalfunctionssothatitgives
anaverageappearance.(ref.AppendixC)
Consideringtheoriginoftheextracteddialectwordsinthissamplesection,the
proportion shows thewords are dominatedby certain types of origin.A lot of
traditionalYuedialectwords(consistingof37%),locallycreatedwords(30%),anda
relativelyhighproportionofnonstandardizedlocalabbreviations(17%)exist.(ref.
AppendixD)
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59
4.3.4GeneralFeaturesandInternalDifferencesofLocalDialect
Wordson
Entertainment
News
(Section
D)
4.3.4.1BriefDescriptionoftheSampleSection
Inthe
sample
section
on
local
and
overseas
entertainment
news
(Section
D),
47
columns of articles and 7 advertisements were studied. 414 dialectwordswere
found.
Entertainmentnewsisquitediversifiedinthesamplesection.Itreportsonthe
lifeof film stars and singers likepreparing entertainmentproducts,disputes and
public activities. It alsoprovides entertainment information and the schedule for
televisionprogrammes,forexample.Lotsofstatementswerequoteddirectly,with
lots of colourful pictures and tables included to create an image of liveliness
throughoutthewholesamplesection.
4.3.4.2TheDistinguishableStatisticalFeaturesoftheLocalDialect
WordsinthisSampleSection
Thedialectwordsectionisthelargestamongall.Mostofthemarefoundin
quoted speeches.Most of them are commentary terms originating in the Yue
dialect.Thedialectwordsmainlyplay theroleofdescription inasentenceand
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60
mostareadjectivalandadverbialphrases.
The entertainment news section reports on details of local stars and
entertainmentactivities,aswellasall sortsof informationaboutcelebrities in the
world. The ruling principles forjournalistswhen highlighting the news are the
general interests of the readers. In Hong Kongs situation, there is usually no
masteringfactorinentertainmentnewstosocietydevelopment.Thereportingstyle
and content, including relevant advertisements are reader interest oriented.66 On
theotherhand, thenew focus isable to liftupapopular trend,orevenstirupa
great mass fervour. The language used in the entertainment news section is
supposed tobe informal and able to serve thepurposeof leisure for thegeneral
public.67
The general study result fits the expectation. The proportion of the dialect
wordsisthehighest(consistingof29%)ofallthesamplesections.Itstandsoutby
15% from theaverage line.Reading the samplewordsclosely, themeaningof the
dialectwordstendtobeemotional,descriptivewords,andquiteanumberofthem
are commentary terms.Theyareprovocativeandoffensive so that theycancarry
obviousmeaningsofappreciationornonappreciation.(ref.AppendixA)
Proportionally speaking, dialect words are mostly found in the direct
quotations of local stars and singers (where the proportion is up to 27%). The
proportionofdialectwordsappearinginthirdpersonnarrativesisrelativelylower.
With reference to the overall ratio of reported texts to quotations of this sample
66 CombinedideasfromJournalistB,CandD67 CombinedideasfromJournalistAandE
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61
section, the proportion of the dialect words found in the direct quotations is
overwhelminglyoutweighedbythosefound inthemain texts(which isbelowthe
averagelineby15%).Similarphenomenaarenoticedinthesectionofthetitleand
the lead in each news column in overseas entertainment news. This shows a
consciouspreferenceofjournaliststobalancethelanguageusedbetweenthearticle
title,themaintextandthequotedstatements.Asaresult,thedialectwordsdensely
spreadoutinthissamplesection.Thestandarddeviationvalueisthelowestofall
thesamplesections,thoughithasaspecialpreferenceinthequotedstatements.(ref.
AppendixB)
Analyzing the result in grammatical functions, over one half of the dialect
wordsarefoundtobeadjectivaloradverbialphrases(consistingof54%),whichisa
dominating figure.Asimilarproportionofsubject/agentsorpredicates (consisting
of26%and16%respectively)isfound.Acertainamountofdialectalfunctionwords
arefoundinthissamplesectionespeciallyinthequotedstatements.(ref.Appendix
C)
When thedataof thissamplesection issortedaccording to theoriginsofthe
dialectwords, three extremeproportions are found tobe against themain trend.
The sample section contains the leastproportion of locally generatedwords and
nonstandardizedlocalabbreviations(consistingof19%and10%respectivelyonly)
whichfigureisthelowestofallthesamplesections.Anotherdistinctivefiguregoes
tothehugeproportionoftraditionalYuedialectwordswhichconsistsofnearly60%
outofthe414wordsfoundinthesamplesection.(ref.AppendixD)
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62
Figure8:Columnchartshowingthegeneralfeaturesandinternalcharacteristics
inthesamplesectiononLocalandOverseasEntertainmentnews(SectionD).
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63
4.3.5GeneralFeaturesandInternalDifferencesofLocalDialect
WordsonLifeSupplementaryFeatures(SectionE)
4.3.5.1BriefDescriptionoftheSampleSection
InthesectiononSupplementaryLifefeatures(SectionE),36columnsofarticles
and9advertisements
were
studied.
226
dialect
words
were
found.
The main content of this sample section of Supplementary Life features
introducesthethoughtfulservicesoftheshoppingmalls,newfashionsreleasedby
wellknownbrandsandfashionshows,fashionabledishesandaccommodationfor
luxuryvacations.Thedialectwordsextractedarefoundtorefertothesefashionable
objectswithanewcontext.Thesamplesectionalsoincludesonepageofproseand
essays for eminent writers and caricaturists to share their life experiences and
thoughts. The language used represents the fact that every one of them has a
distinctivestyleinhisorherwork.
4.3.5.2TheDistinguishableStatisticalFeaturesoftheLocalDialect
WordsinthisSampleSection
Comparatively speaking,word use is conservative in this sample section.
There isvery fewdialectwordsuseddeliberately.Locallygeneratedwords are
usuallymodified bymorphemes of the standard language.Dialectwords are
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64
usedonlywhentherearenoalternativesthattherearenostandardwordstorefer
tosomenewcontextssotheproportionofsubjectandagentisdominating.
The section on Supplementary Life features is a kind of dailymagazine
which reveals the latestnewsand trends in the fouressential requirementsof the
people: food, clothing, housing and transportation in upholding a quality
metropolitan life.Theword quality isupheld in that thenews issupposed tobe
trendbuildingandproclaimative.Lotsof thebest indifferentlifeaspectsistobe
presentedinthisdailylifemagazine.68 Thelanguageusedneedstobeconvincingto
readersinordertokeepupwithauthoritativetoneinthefeatures.69
Theoverviewfigureshowsthattheproportionofappearancefrequencyofthe
dialectwordsisslightlyhigherthanthegeneralaveragefigureinthatthereare22.6
dialectwordsoneachpageinthissamplesectiononaverage.Theproportionofthe
dialectwordscamethirdaftertheentertainmentnewsandbusinessnewssuchthat
itmakesup16%oftheworddata.Thedialectwordscollectedarenewnamesand
concepts related to the reported theme.Very few functionaland structuralwords
arefound.Mostofthemarenoncommentaryterms.(ref.AppendixA)
Whenstudyingthespreadofdataaccordingtothesourceofthedialectwords,
it isoneof themost extreme cases in the sample sections such that the standard
deviationvalue rises to33.Comparatively speaking, theproportionof thedialect
wordsfoundin thetitle,theleadandthecolumnnames isthesmallest(consisting
of 9% only);while the one found in themain text and the caption is one of the
68 CombinedideasfromJournalistB,CandD69 CombinedideasfromJournalistAandE
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65
highest (consisting of 74%). This fact suggests that the journalists have been
deliberatelyavoidingtheuseofdialectwordsinthetitleandthearticleleadunless
it is needed to describe a new thing. All words found are content words
(contrastingtofunctionwords)inthissamplesection.(ref.AppendixB)
Once thedata issortedaccording togrammatical functions, the resultclearly
showsthereisapredominantproportionofdialectwordplayingtheroleofstating
the subject or agent in sentences (consisting of 53% of the listeddata).All other
categories, includingpredicate,adjectivaloradverbialphrasesandfunctionwords
areproportionallylowerthantheaverageline.(ref.AppendixC)
Whenthedialectwordsofthissamplesectionaresortedbyorigin,theresultis
quitebalancedandevenlydistributed,whilethefiguresevenlieontheaverageline
inproportionexceptone.This resultmeans thedialectwordsused in thissample
sectionaredevelopedfromvariousorigins.Theonlyfigureworthmentioningisthe
relativelybigproportionofloanwordsused,whichincludesletterwords,translated
wordsand transliteratedwords.Mostof these loanwordsrefer to imported ideas
andtrends.(ref.AppendixD)
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66
Figure9:Columnchartshowingthegeneralfeaturesandinternalcharacteristics
inthe
sample
section
on
Supplementary
Life
features
(Section
E).
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67
4.3.6GeneralFeaturesandInternalDifferencesofLocalDialect
WordsinthesamplesectiononEducationalnews(SectionF)
4.3.6.1BriefDescriptionoftheSampleSection
InthesamplesectiononEducationalNews(SectionF),27columnsofarticles
and15advertisementswerestudied.135dialectwordswerefound.
Themain content of this sample section reports on the newest Form three
TerritorywideSystemAssessment(TSA)oftheday.Universitypolicies,aswellas
studentpagesdiscussingsome languagefociarealsoprinted.Wordsextractedare
found tobe referring to the educational policies and ideas introduced after the
adoptionofeducationalreformin2000.Thereisnodialectwordfoundinthestudy
guidesandarticleswrittenby languageeducatorsandadvertisementsreleasedby
educationinstitutes.
4.3.6.2TheDistinguishableStatisticalFeaturesoftheLocalDialect
WordsinthisSampleSection
Articlesarebasicallyalignedwiththestandardlanguage.Thedialectwords
found are evenly spread in terms ofdifferent functions in the text and in the
grammaticalroles,
except
that
it
is
dominated
by
alarge
proportion
of
locally
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68
generated terms, the terms that refer to the new practices in theHong Kong
educationreformsince2000.
Theeducationnewssectioncontainslocaleducationalnewsandstudentpages.
Theformercontentsmainlyreportontheprogressoftherecenteducationreforms
and the feedback from society. The latter is used to discuss tertiary education
information and advice togetherwith some articleswritten as study guides and
some indepth discussions on language topics by linguists. 70 Language used
shouldbesuitableforstudents,learnersofthestandardlanguage,toread. 71
Theproportionof thedialectwords foundoccupies12%of the totalamount
found,whichproportion isbelow theaverage line;around16.8dialectwordsare
foundoneachpagewithinthissamplesectiononaverage.Mostwordscollectedare
locally confined as they refer to the specific educationpolicy set forHongKong
circumstances.Therearerelativelylargeamountsofdialectwordsconcentratingin
theadvertisementpart; theadvertisementsare found in theclassified recruitment
pageswithinthesamplesection.Manydialectwordsareusedtodescribethenature
oftheofferedjobs.(ref.AppendixA)
Thecollecteddata is foundevenly fromdifferent sources.With the standard
deviationvalueof24,thenewstendstousedialectwordsintitles,themaincontent,
thequotedopinionaswellas inadvertisements.Amongstall thesamplesections,
the proportion of the dialect words found in the advertisements is thebiggest
(occupying 23% of this sample section). Besides getting a certain proportion of
70 CombinedideasfromJournalistB,CandD71 CombinedideasfromJournalistAandE
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69
dialectwordpresenceinthequotedstatementsbyCantonesespeakers(around4%),
theothertwofiguresofproportionofdialectwordsarefoundin thetitle,thelead
andthecolumnnames (consistingof14%);theproportionfound inthemaintext
andthecaption(consistingof59%)arenormalfiguresfittingintothemainstream
perfectly.Thisfactsuggeststhatthejournalistshavebeenveryselfdisciplinedwith
regard to the written language when producing articles in the education news
section.(ref.AppendixB)
Once thedata is sortedaccording togrammatical functions, the result shows
thatboththeproportionofsubjectoragentandadjectivaloradverbialphrases
areparallelwings.Theymakeup44%and45%ofthewordsfoundcorrespondingly
andarepercentageslingeringaroundthemean.Theproportionofpredicatesisthe
smallest(accountingfor9%only)ofallthesamplesections.(ref.AppendixC)
Thedialectwords of this sample section are sorted according to origin.The
proportionofthelocallygeneratedwordsisveryhighinthatitaccountsfor37%of
the data section, in quick secessionby the proportion of traditional Yue dialect
words (consisting of 36%) and nonstandardized local abbreviations (13%). The
proportionsharedbytheothertwocategories(includingloanwordsandstandard
wordswith locallydevelopedmeanings) are similar to theother sample sections,
consistingof8%and6%correspondingly..(ref.AppendixD)
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70
Figure10:Columnchartshowingthegeneralfeaturesandinternalcharacteristics
inthesamplesectiononEducationalnews(SectionF).
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71
4.3.7GeneralFeaturesandInternalDifferencesofLocalDialect
WordsonSportsNews(SectionS)
4.3.7.1BriefDescriptionoftheSampleSection
InthesectiononSportsNews(SectionS),45columnsofarticleswerestudied.
Therewere
no
advertisements
in
this
sample
section.
57
dialect
words
were
found.
The sportsnewsof theday in the sample sectionhad several reporting foci.
Unluckily, therewas nomain sports competition on the day. Instead, the news
focusedonsomepreparatoryeventsfortheupcomingWorldCup,theretirementof
several important football starsaswellas some criticismsandpredictions for the
coming events. The words collected are mostly commentary terms that are
emotional and descriptive carrying explicit meanings of appreciation or
nonappreciation.
4.3.7.2TheDistinguishableStatisticalFeaturesoftheLocalDialect
WordsinthisSampleSection
Small amounts of dialectwords are found in this sample.Thewords are
mainly found in the title of the news articles.Thewords are very descriptive
which is dominated by adjectival and adverbial phrases. Flexible uses of
descriptivestandardwordsarealsofound.
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72
Thesportnewsreportsinternationalsporteventsandsportsstars,localsports
events followedby the news describing the relevant gamblingmarket.72 As the
functionofsportsnewsissimilartothatofentertainmentnews,itisasectionwith
anentertainingfunction.Languageusedissupposedtobeattractive,refreshingand
descriptivetoletthereadersenjoythenews. 73
An astonishing fact is that theproportionof thedialectwords found in this
sample section occupied 7% of the total amount, which is one of the lowest
proportionsamongall thesamplesections.Only9.5dialectwordswere foundon
eachpagewithinthissamplesectiononaverage.Mostofthedialectwordscollected
was relatively vulgar, yet vivid in describing sports related activities and the
responsesoftheiraudiences.(ref.AppendixA)
Consideringthesourcesofthedata,allthelocaldialectwordslistedarefound
in the title, themain text and the caption.As the sports news is dominatedby
internationalsportsnews,all thequotedstatementsare translated in thestandard
language.Sincetherearenoadvertisementstobefoundinthissamplesection,the
percentageportion isinvalid.Thestandarddeviationvalueis24asaresultofthis
unevendistribution.Compared to thegeneral result, theproportionof thedialect
wordsfoundinthetitleandthearticlenewsisoutstandingandtripledthenormal
proportion (up to 49%),while thedialectwords extracted from themain texts is
thereforerelativelylowingeneral(51%)(ref.AppendixB)
72 CombinedideasfromJournalistB,CandD73 CombinedideasfromJournalistAandE
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73
Ontheaxisofgrammaticalfunctions,thedialectworddatashowsthelargest
proportion of adjectival or adverbial phrases which consists of 61% and the
smallestproportionofsubjectoragentwhichconsistsof21%onlyamongallthe
samplesections.Theproportionofpredicatesishigherthantheaveragelineby6%.
(ref.AppendixC)
With reference to the origins of the dialect words, the proportion of the
standardwordswithlocallygeneratedmetaphoricalandanalogicalmeaningisthe
highestinthatitaccountsfor18%ofthedatasection;theproportionofloanwords
istheleastofall(consistingof2%).Besides,theuseoftraditionalYuedialectwords
is higher than the average to a certain extent (consisting of 42%).There are also
dialect word samples which originate from locally generated words and
nonstandardized abbreviationswhich occupy a similar proportion to other data
(occupying22%and16%respectively).(ref.AppendixD)
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74
Figure11:Columnchartshowingthegeneralfeaturesandinternalcharacteristics
inthesamplesectiononSportnews(SectionS).
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75
4.4 JUSITIFICATIONS FOR THE INTERNAL
DIFFERENCES WITHIN THE LOCAL DIALECT
WORD DATA AND THE REASONS FOR THE
INTEGRATION
Inthissubsection,theinterviewresultswiththejournalistsarecontrastedwith
thenewspaper
study.
The
journalists
motives
for
using
local
dialect
words
in
formal
news writing are collected. The overall interview results are compiled and the
performance in the sample sections is analyzed based on the four dimensions.
Differenttypesofdialectwordsarepurposefullyorganized.Itshowstherationale
behind thejournalistsconvention in the integrationofdialectwords. The figure
belowshowsthedetailedcompositionoftheanalysiswiththefourdimensionsfor
referenceinthissubsection.
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76
Figure12:Horizontalaccumulativebarchartshowingthepercentageproportion
ofdialectwordsusedindifferenttextsourcesofeachsamplesection.
Figure13:Horizontalaccumulativebarchartshowingthepercentageproportion
ofdialectwordsusedindifferentgrammaticalfunctionsofeachsamplesection.
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77
Figure14:Horizontalaccumulativebarchartshowingthepercentageproportion
ofdialectwordsusedindifferentoriginsofeachsamplesection.
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78
4.4.1Motives for Journalists to Integrate LocalDialectWords
intotheChineseWrittenLanguage
Presentprinciplesofdialectwordintegrationarenoteffectiveinnewspaper
productiondue topractical factorswhichdemanddialectwords.Properuseof
dialectwordscanshowthereality,enhanceexpressiveness,appealtothemarket,
create an icon of Hong Kong identity and help readers to comprehend the
message.
4.4.1.1TheInsufficiencyofthePresentPrinciplesforDialectWord
Integration
Inspiteofthefrequentcomplaintsoftheloweringofthelanguagestandardin
formalnewspapers74, the interviewedjournalistscriticized the fact thatnotall the
academicprinciples couldbeadopted in reality. Instead, theadoptionofabsolute
standardlanguagewordshinderstheminfulfillingtheirprofession.
Thegreatestlimitationofwordsinthestandardlanguageisthattheyfailtoshowtheprofessionalismofthelocaljournalistswhoaretheservantsoffactandfacthunters(referringtothetargetreaders). (JournalistE)
Althoughthepublicreaddifferentsectionsofthenewspaperforvariousaims,thebasicmotivationforthemremainsthesame,togetextensiveinformationandtogather
74 (2006)
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79
concernedfactsforanewviewoflife.(JournalistC)
Languageandthewordsusedshowyourprofessionalisminbalancingthedignityofthemassmediaandyourtargetreaders.(JournalistA)
Thefindingshows thatjournalistsfromeachsectionoftheSingdaoDailyare
still upholding and preserving the micro language culture within each news
sectionestablishedthroughouttherecentyears.Outofthe6experiencedjournalists
interviewed,allagree that this is theonlyway toensure thesurvivalof thenews
sectionandthemarketvalueofthewholepieceofthenewspaper.
The findings in thenewspaperstudyand thejournalist interviews reveal the
reasonwhynewspaperarepurposefullyusingdialectwords.
4.4.1.2UsingDialectWordstoDemonstrateReality
The outstanding amount of local dialect words in the financial news and
propertynews isoutstandingandagainst theassumption that formal language is
used in importantpagesofhardnews.75 Thewordsfound in financialnewsare
locallycreatedandnewlygenerated referring toeconomicconcepts like
. This point is further supported by the high percentage of
subjects/agentsofthegrammaticalfunctionwhichareusuallynouns.
Ontheotherhand,duetothelackoffinancialactivitiesinChinabefore1980s,
75 (2004)
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80
standardwordsindescribingintensecommercialactivitiesarerare;theonlychoice
forefficientjournalistsistouselotsofYuedialectwordstodescribethefluctuation
andundulationoftheperformanceofinvestorssincethatperiodoftime.Thishabit
iskept tillnow.Words like and are found in the sample
paper. Besides, the abundant number of standardwordswith locally generated
metaphoricalandanalogicalmeaningslike italsoproved
thatthewordsusedreflecttheneedsofthebusinessfield.Thoughthesewordsare
gettingmore familiar inMainlandChina in describing other situations, they are
obviouslydevelopmentfromYuedialectwordstodemonstratebusinessactivities.
When reporting events outsideHong Kong, the demand for dialect words
usage obviously decreases. The supporting argument comes from the lowest
percentageofdialectwordsinthesectionofChinapageandtheinternationalpage.
Accordingtotheusualpracticeinnewspapercompanies,thearticlesinthesepages
arenotwrittenbyHongKongjournalists themselvesbut theyareusuallybought
from international agencies. The messages bought will be translated, edited or
rewritten; also the titlesof thenewswillbe rewritten to attract andpinpoint the
emphasisof themessage from thepointofviewofHongKongpeople.However,
unliketheexceptionallyhighpercentageofthepresenceofdialectwords insports
news,dialectwordswereseldomdiscovered throughout the titles,main textsand
the captions as no dialectwords are needed to describe the concepts and cases
outsideHongKongsociety.
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81
4.4.1.3 Using Dialect Words to Act as a Rhetorical Means of
Expression
In hisbook76,Don Snow suggests localdialectwords appear innewspapers
especially in the titleof articles.Using theWiseNews internet system, it is found
thatthemajorityoftitlesofheadlinesandimportantlocalorinternationalnewsuse
localdialectwords,o